AT A BURIAL MEETING

(i) Jim Gray

Psalm 116: 15; Ezekiel 18: 23; John 11: 25, 26 (to … “die”)

I was impressed as we came to this occasion by the remarkable statement in the Old Testament that the death of certain persons is “Precious in the sight of Jehovah”. I think we could say that our sister’s death has been precious in the sight of the Lord. She belongs to the class of persons known as saints. I think such persons are persons who have known Christ as Saviour and Christ as Lord. He has affected their lives. The word saints is derived from the thought of being sanctified, that is set apart. Our sister was affected early in her life by the Saviour, her life came under His direction. Her life has been marked by prayer; a saint is marked by prayer, marked by graciousness, marked by goodness. She was a woman who was known to pray. If you visited her, she always asked you to pray before you left. She was characterised by prayer, dependent on the Lord all through her life to give her direction. That is a saint. Such persons afford delight to heaven, morning and evening bowing her knee to the Lord Jesus, bowing her knee to Him who is in the heavens, asking for direction for the day. She was full of goodness and grace too. In her active days in her home there was a shelter from time to time for young persons who were suffering from the winds of adversity in their lives, she took them in and sheltered them. She was gracious. She was also a shepherd in her lifetime – these features came out in her, her life was dedicated to Christ. She was also an evangelist. I know that in her work place, she spoke to persons about the Lord Jesus. She told them how precious He was to her in her life. The Lord had a hand in her death. It was precious in His sight, He took her home. During her time of weakness in the hospital, it was impossible for someone to be present all the time, but Christ was always there. He stands by the saint, day in and day out, and in time of trial and weakness and distress He would stand by our sister, comfort her, give her a sense of His nearness, give her a sense that He was about to take her home out of her body of humiliation. Such is the life of a saint.

In Ezekiel there is another class of persons, wicked. God says, “Have I any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked?” It is a question, He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Who are the wicked? Sinners. It says, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3: 23), so once in our life we were in that category. I trust no one here is still in the category of a sinner, not yet saved by the blood of Jesus. If a person continues in their wickedness and sins and lawlessness, God has no pleasure in their death. How sad! But He has pleasure, “is it not in his turning from his way, that he may live?”, that is that he comes to Christ as Saviour, turns from his wicked ways and lives. Dear friends and brethren, that is what those of us who know Christ as Saviour have done, we have turned from our wicked ways and sought Christ as Saviour, laid hold of the power of the redeeming blood which can wash us from our sins – “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood”, Rev. 1: 5. That blessed Person, Christ, never ceases to draw out the love and affections of those who have been saved by His precious blood.

In John’s gospel it is resurrection that is in mind, another class of persons. “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”. Our sister belongs to a class, the dead in Christ, asleep through Jesus. She belongs to that class of which it says, “though he have died, shall live”. She is going to live again. Do you believe that? I know that there are persons here who believe that. I wonder if all believe in the resurrection, the Lord Jesus’ power to raise the dead. There is going to be pleasure for Christ when He raises the dead: He will come with a shout, with archangel’s voice and the trump of God and raise the dead (see 1 Thess 4: 16). What a moment! He will give them incorruptible bodies, bodies which are suited to life in another sphere, no longer life in flesh and blood. Our sister has known life in the flesh and blood condition, she will never know it again; she will be raised into another condition, the same condition that Christ is in. When we see Him we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is (see 1 John 3: 2). What a hope! The scripture says, “though he have died”; yes she has died, but she is present with the Lord, she will live by the power of God. What pleasure Christ is going to have when He raises the saints, those who have trusted Him. Those who are dead in Christ from Abel down will be raised and there will be divine pleasure in it. Just as the Father raised Christ from the dead by His glory, there is going to be glory in the resurrection of the saints, but there will be no glory in the resurrection of the wicked. The great white throne and all that it stands for, when every sinner will have to do with God, every knee bow to Jesus; there will be no pleasure for God in that. Men raised in their sins to face judgment, face the second death which is the lake of fire. But there is pleasure for God in the death of His saints.

May the Lord help us, For His Name’s sake.